~Summary~
Hilde and her five sisters were dreamed into existence by their father, the god Odin, and when they came of age, each were given a cloak imbued with a unique gift and granted the power to transform into swans. But Hilde despises her gift of ferrying the souls of dying animals to the afterlife so when one day she meets a boy in the forest, she takes a chance and escapes with him to the human world. At first, Hilde is dazzled by all she finds there, but it isn’t long before she is exposed to the darker side of life at court as well as the selfish and controlling nature of the boy she trusted to bring her there. With the help of a new friend and the magic within her, Hilde must find the strength to break free of her gilded cage.
~My Thoughts~
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC!
I actually didn’t know this was a novel-in-verse before I started reading but it actually worked out well because I only had a week to read it before traveling and if it had been a full length novel I know I wouldn’t have been able to get all the way through. This read just like a fairy-tale and I loved how the author deftly layered the whimsical with darker undertones. The writing was mesmerizing and the poetic structure was definitely a perfect choice. The story itself was also really well plotted and I liked watching Hilde grow and mature. My only con was that I found this book, and the characters especially, hard to connect with because the writing sometimes felt too delicate and detached if that makes sense. Overall though, this book captures every essence of a fairy-tale that I love and I highly recommend it to any fairy-tale/poetry fans! Happy Reading 🙂
The Art of Reading 